


Unprecedented

by GMRivers



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Character Study, Childhood Memories, Family Dynamics, Family Fluff, Family Issues, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Harry Potter & Ron Weasley Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Ron Weasley is a Good Friend, Ron Weasley-centric, Weasley Family-centric (Harry Potter)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:15:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25644154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GMRivers/pseuds/GMRivers
Summary: When Ron was little, he wanted to be just like his big brother Bill. He loved spending time with him. Time with Bill was fun, but more than that, it was Ron's.(There was a time when Ron didn't worry about standing out. It didn't last very long)
Relationships: Hermione Granger & Harry Potter & Ron Weasley, Ron Weasley & Weasley Family
Comments: 8
Kudos: 93





	Unprecedented

When Ron was little, he wanted to be just like his big brother Bill. He didn't get to see him all that often, since Bill was busy with school, but he always loved spending time with him. Time with Bill was fun, but more than that, it was _Ron's_. 

Here's the thing, Arthur and Molly Weasley loved every one of their children, but they had many of those, and so they had to work extra hard in order to give them the life they wanted them to have. This unfortunately resulted in each successive child getting a little bit less attention from their parents (with the exception of the youngest). It mostly went something like this:

When Bill was little, he spent many of his days playing catch with his father, tinkering with him in the shed, and having wonderful adventures discovering not so ancient muggle objects in the not so dangerous forest near the burrow. He had a loving mother who baked him cakes for his birthdays and knitted all sorts of things made just for him. Then, he got his first little brother, he saw how happy mom and dad were, and he knew he wanted to protect him with all his heart. 

When Charlie was little he had a doting older brother to play with, a mother who tucked him in at night and a father who taught him how to fly his first broom. He spent many nights falling asleep to his mother's voice, telling him stories of giants and dragons and all sorts of magical beasts, and many a day playing alongside his brother, chasing all sorts of little plastic animals enchanted by his dad so they would fly all around. When he first got a little brother, he was a little bit jealous, but he soon found someone who was actually eager to listen to him talk about all of his animals. He loved seeing the look of silent awe in his little brother's face when he first told him how big dragons could get. 

When Percy was little he had two older brothers to teach him things, and a father he idolized. He wanted to be just like his father, and his dad obliged him, taking him to his office to meet his coworkers, and telling him all about his job. One day, he found a rat in the garden, and he decided to take it home with him. His parents said he could only keep his new friend if he was responsible, so he promised he was going to be the most responsible person ever. The proud smiles he got in response were almost better than getting his own pet. He had to share mom and dad with his two louder, more outgoing brothers, but that was okay. His dad always loved teaching him about the ministry, and his brothers always left him alone with dad in order to find something more exciting, and his mom always welcomed his presence when she was knitting, reading a book while sitting beside her in comfortable silence. His brothers didn't like the same games he did, but they gave him all their extra cards from their chocolate frogs, and Bill always knew a detail or fact that wasn't in the cards he collected. When he suddenly got two new brothers, he decided he was going to teach them everything he knew, just like dad and his older brothers had taught him. He was going to be a good older brother, and he was going to keep his brothers out of trouble, one way or another. 

When Fred and George were little, they had three older brothers. Two of them were almost always at Hogwarts, but they always came back with funny stories just for them. Telling them all about quidditch, spells and pranks. Fred and George did what they could to make their brothers laugh, maybe if they could get enough quidditch, spells, and pranks at home, they wouldn't want to leave when the summer was over. The other brother was a little bit less fun sometimes, because he kept trying to stop their experiments, but he was always willing to help his little brothers learn new things (as long as it wasn't dangerous). He always seemed worried about something, a little bit like mum, so Fred and George would make trouble just so that they could see him smile when their parents thanked him for dealing with said trouble. The twins also had parents who loved them very much, but they always seemed to be distracted by something else, be it one of their three older brothers, trouble at work, or worries about the future. Sometimes it seemed like the only way to get their attention was to make trouble, but the fondly exasperated smiles were worth enduring a telling off or two. More than that though, George and Fred had each other, so no matter what was happening in their world, they were never alone. When they got a little brother, they didn't have to worry about teaching him games in order to get a playmate. They didn't really need one, they had each other. Still, it was always fun to tease him, but the best part was making him laugh. 

When Ron was little, he had five older brothers who he loved very much. Bill and Charlie were almost always away at school, but when they were home, Ron learnt to fly a broom for the first time, he learnt to play chess, and many nights he went to bed with stories of dragons and ancient curses in his head. When they weren't home, he still had three brothers, (at least until Percy went away too). The twins were a lot of fun sometimes, they snuck him extra treats and they played the best games, but they could also be very mean. Percy was great when he needed help understanding something or when he couldn't tie his shoelaces. He was the only one who would play chess with him when Bill and Charlie were gone. Percy also spent a lot of time trying to keep track of the twins, and the rest of it he used trying to get ready for Hogwarts, so he didn't have a lot of time for Ron. Like his brothers, he had loving parents, but they didn't have a lot of time for Ron either. They always made sure to spend some time with _the boys,_ but he sometimes wished they'd have a little bit of time just for _Ron_. When Ron got a little sister, the whole family was ecstatic, and he was happy to be an older brother just like Bill, but he couldn't help but feel a little bit sad, because now his family would have even less time for him. 

When Ginny was little, she had six older brothers and parents who loved to spoil their only daughter. She had a dad who danced with her on the weekends and a mom who brushed her hair every night before bed. Since she was the little princess of the house, her brothers were all fiercely protective of her, and she was protective of them too. Sometimes though, Ginny thought her brothers were a little bit dumb. (This was usually when they didn't want to play something with her because she was a _girl_ ). She still liked being the only girl, because that meant she got new things instead of her brothers' hand-me-downs. Sometimes though, she felt a little sad about it, because she couldn't give gifts to her brothers like when Charlie gave Fred his lucky quidditch sweater. Ron didn't really appreciate her sparkly adventure shoes (but they didn't fit him anyway so she understood a little bit why he didn't want them, but she really thought he would like them). Ginny loved all of her brothers, but she spent the most time with Ron, who was closest in age. It wasn't until she was a little bit older that she realized just how much more attention she got than her youngest older brother did.

So yes, Ron particularly enjoyed spending time with Bill. This was for a number of reasons. For example, when Fred turned Ron's teddy bear into a giant spider, Ron had been scared and a little bit angry, and he cried for a long while. Dad was at work, mum was too busy making lunch, Charlie was off at a friend's house, Percy was too focused on telling off Fred, George was defending Fred, and Ginny was too young to be of any help. Bill was the one who hugged Ron until he stopped crying. He was the one who tried to turn the spider back into a teddy. And he was the one who Ron later turned to whenever he had a problem he couldn't solve by himself. 

Bill Weasley was keenly aware of the differences between his own upbringing and his youngest brother's. He knew that dad never taught Ron the rules of Quidditch, because it was Charlie and Bill who taught him the game. He knew that mom never forgot Bill's own dislike for liver, but she never seemed to remember that Ron disliked corned beef. He sometimes felt guiltily glad to have been the eldest. To have had new clothes that suited his taste and toys that weren't held together by spell-o-tape. Most of the time, he just tried his best to be there for his younger siblings. 

He didn't worry as much about Charlie, at least not about this, though he worried plenty for other reasons. It was mostly the same with Ginny, though he sometimes wondered if being treated so differently by their parents was something she would one day feel strongly about. Percy however, always seemed to be trying to grow up too fast, and Bill worried that their parents had made it worse by unwittingly handing over so much of the responsibility for their younger children to a son who craved so much for approval. Bill was grateful he at least bonded with their father over his work at the ministry. Fred and George on the other hand seemed less desperate for approval but no less so for attention, and Bill couldn't blame them, it must be hard enough to stand out when you were perceived as part of a pair, having to fight for attention with five other siblings definitely couldn't help. Still, Bill found some comfort in knowing they at least had each other. Ron, however, Bill was often worried about. Ron didn't have a twin to play and share things with. He didn't have a common interest to bond over with their parents. He wasn't the only Weasley girl to be born in however many generations. So Bill tried his best to be there for Ron, and he did what he could to make Charlie do the same. 

Ron, of course, absolutely idolized Bill, and as mentioned before, wanted to be just like him. This was perfectly fine. It's good for children to have role models, people they admire and want to emulate. Sadly though, it didn't last for very long, because Ron would soon be convinced he needed to be as different from his brothers as he could possibly be. 

It all started with the words: Ginny _and the boys._


End file.
